Staff Allegedly Drugs, Molests Teens at Delhi Shelter Home

On 2 September, Gajendra Bhati was shot by two unidentified motorcycle-borne assailants in Ghaziabad.

The National Human Rights Commission issued a notice to Delhi’s government on Tuesday after several teenage girls from a shelter home in West Delhi accused the staff of molesting them.

The girls who who are either rape survivors or rescued from the city’s streets were sent to the shelter home for rehab. However, chilling accounts of how they were beaten into submission before being molested has raised serious questions on the role of the authorities in the matter.

According to a Hindustan Times report, the girls have alleged that they were beaten up if they tried resisting, and were forcibly injected with unexplained drugs to speed up their growth.

According to the report, the victims were given some substance similar to oxytocin hormone which stimulates physical growth in pre-pubescent girls.

Hindustan TimesThe girls were allegedly given an Oxytocin-type substance that stimulates changes in their body. Police conducted a medical examination of syringe marks and registered a case. The officials are being questioned

NHRC, DCW Take Notice

Taking suo motu cognisance of the report, the NHRC has filed an FIR and issued notices to the Delhi chief secretary and the commissioner of the Delhi Police. It has also sought a detailed report within four weeks in the matter.

The Commission has observed that the contents of the news report, if true, are "disgusting" and indicative of "gross negligence" on the part of the Department of Social Welfare of the Delhi government.

The shelter houses are supposed to provide a safe and secure environment to its inmates along with skill training so that they could earn a living after leaving it, the NHRC said.

Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal has also summoned the director of the Women and Child Development Department of the Delhi government and sought an action taken report in this matter.

The police has registered a case on the basis of a complaint by the women's panel chief in which it has been alleged that this had been happening for the last two years.

In the complaint given on behalf of 20-25 girls, it has been alleged that they were not fed proper food and were made to work quite hard. If they didn't finish the work on time, they were beaten up.

They have also claimed that the conditions they lived were quite "unhygienic" and they were administered injections that brought about "premature growth", the police said.